The 9th crew member
by Anyarel
Summary: A new member joins the crew and seems to get along with Sanji. SPOILERS INSIDE. SanjixOC, ZoroxNami.
1. The arrival of Natsume

The scene takes place after the Straw Hats have defeated Duval who was in fact an enemy from Zoro's bounty hunter past.

They are now heading to the Merman Island which is a little further from where they are now.

"Ah, I already miss Caimie. She was such a cutie." Sanji said. "Nami-swan, want a tea?"

"Tea, tea, tea!" Luffy caught the teapot with his rubber hand and swallowed the whole of it.

"Luffy, I'm gonna kill you!"

"Take it easy, love cook" Zoro said, waking up from a nap because of the noisy atmosphere. "Oi Luffy, is it morning already?"

Before he could get an answer from Luffy, he was violently punched by Nami.

"It's afternoon, you've slept the whole day!"

Nami sat beside him and asked "This Duval guy, you made him a scar in the back in the past, right?"

Zoro nodded. He answered:

"Actually, I don't like to make scars in the back. But this one was such an asshole. He was a bandit who wanted to kill a woman who did nothing at all.."

"So you finally care about ladies, marimo?" Sanji was back there, followed by a beaten-up Luffy.

"Shut up, love cook!"

But Sanji had already left, seeing Robin who sat a her usual place and opened a book.

"Want a tea, Robin-chwan?"

"This love cook, what a stupid moron!" Zoro grinned.

"You're a bit of a moron too" Nami said. "Why are you always so rude?"

"Who cares about that?"

"Hey everyone, I see something!" Ussop shouted from the mast. "It's a drifting boat! It's coming toward us!"

"Is there someone inside?" Franky asked, drinking a bottle of cola.

"Yes, there's a boy inside. He seems inconscious."

"You sure he's not dead?" Brooke asked. "Oh, I'm the one who's dead! Yohohohoho!"

"I'm gonna take him!" Luffy said.

"You stupid, you can't swim" Zoro and Sanji said in a same voice.

"You dumbass, stop copying me! Marimo head!" he kicked Zoro's cheek.

"You're the one who's copying me!" Zoro answered, pulling out his sword. "Wanna fight?"

But before they could fight, Nami punched both of them.

"Stop it, will you? Don't you see we already have a lot of trouble?"

Luffy smiled.

"Gomu gomu no... ROCKET!"

He caught the boy with his arm and brought him back to the Thousand Sunny.

He was a short and skinny boy who looked a little younger than Luffy. His hair and eyes were brown.

Luffy slapped him awake.

"Hey you, what's your name?" he asked.

"My name.. hey, where am I?"

"You're on the Thousand Sunny" Luffy answered. "I'm the captain of the Straw Hats"

"And my name is.. Captain... Ussop!" our long-nose friend said. "And I've got 8000 men by my.."

But the boy wasn't listening to Ussop at all. He was staring at Sanji, then said, blushing a little:

"You're Sanji from the Baratie, right?"

Sanji, raised his eyebrow, a little surprised.

"Yeah I am, you know this place?"

"I went there once. I can remember cause you were fighting pretty violently with a client"

Sanji smiled.

"But your meal was delicious."

"Oh thanks" Sanji replied. "Want to have a taste of my new home-made soup?"

And he ran to the kitchen witha enthusiastic look on his face.

"Isn't he only that gentle with girls?" Nami murmured to Zoro

"Maybe fuzzy-eyebrows loves guys too."

"By the way, aren't you hurt?" Robin said. "We have a doctor on this ship, you should go and see him."

"No, thanks."the boy answered. "I'm fine."

Sanji came back with a bowl of soup. The boy ate it and thanked Sanji.

"Oh, I had almost forgotten. My name's Natsume."


	2. Gay or not gay?

"Natsume" Nami said. "What a cute name!"

"Oh thanks" Natsume blushed a little. "My mother gave it to me before she died. It was my father's first name."

"I see." Nami hesitated and asked. "What are you doing alone in Grand Line?"

"I'm looking for Dr Vegapunk. My dream is to become a great scientist."

"So you're into science too? Chopper asked. "I'm this ship's doctor! I love science too, eeh eeh!"

"You're a scientist, eh?" Franky seemed interested. "See, I'm a cyborg and.."

But before he could finish his sentence, Sanji kicked him in the butt.

"Were you to ask him to do some fixing? Don't you see he's tired, stupid robot?"

And turning to Natsume, he smiled and asked if he wanted him to bring him to a place where he could have a rest.

Natsume nodded.

"Yes, I'd really like to have some sleep."

Sanji lead him to the boys'room.

Natsume opened the door but before he could enter the room, Sanji caught his hand and asked him:

"Hey, would you like to taste one of my new recets tonight?"

Natsume looked like he was surprised.

"Sure, no problem."

Sanji came back to where the others were, wondering why he was acting so wierdly since the arrival of Natsume on the ship.

He went to the kitchen and started to prepare a meal for the crew but suddenly Natsume's face appeared in his head. He couldn't stop thinking of him.

_WTF is wrong with me? Could it be that I'm gay? No, it's not possible. I love women.  
But even when I'm with Nami-swan and Robin-chwan, I don't feel this way.  
Could it be that I fell in love with this guy? Only this guy?_

Sanji was interrupted in his thoughts by Luffy who entered the kitchen.

"Hey Sanji, I'm hungry!! I want meat, MEAT!"

Actually, Luffy didn't wait for Sanji to give him meat and opened the fridge which was unlocked as Sanji was in the kitchen.

"Ah, it's good! Sanji, want some meat too?"

Sanji didn't answer.

"Hey Sanji, what's wrong?"

"Luffy, could it be that I'm gay?"

"Huh? Did you lost your mind?  
You sure are the contrary of a gay."

"But..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Luffy kissed him.

It was Sanji's first real kiss and, even if he liked the sensation of the kiss, he felt like he was a little disgusted.

"Luffy, WTF do you think you're doing?"

The straw hat boy smiled.

"See? You're not gay."

"But then, why am I attracted by him?"

"Dunno, it's wierd. Maybe it's not really love that you feel for him."

"But still, I didn't know that YOU were gay."

"Eh?"

"You're gay, right?"

"Nope, actually love doesn't interest me."

"But you kissed me."

"It wasn't a big deal for me."

"I see, you're strange, captain."

Luffy smiled.

"I'm happy I could feel the taste of the cake you ate this afternoon."

"Huh?"

"I wanted to eat it."

"So, it was the real reason for your kiss?"

"Yup. Want to try again?"

"Well, I think I'm definitely not gay."


	3. What's with Love Cook!

While Sanji was still preparing the meal, the other Straw Hats were having fun watching Usopp and Chopper making faces and dancing in the ship.

"Usopp!" Chopper was laughing. "You should have been there when we meet this superhero Sogeking! He was so funny!"

"Ahh, Chopper! I already know him, he was once part of my 8000 men crew and.."

"Really?! Sugoi, Usopp!" Chopper believed naively his lies, as usual.

"Seriously, Chopper..!" Nami began to speak but Robin had prevented her from doing it, using her Hana Hana no Mi.

"Shh" Robin whispered to Nami. "Let him believe that, it's so cute". Robin was really fond of Chopper's cuteness.

Chopper didn't notice anything anyway and was still laughing with Usopp, as Sanji came out of his kitchen to announce that the meal was ready.

He didn't show any special interest to Nami and Robin as usual and just said:

"I prepared a new meal for everyone, I hope you'll like it!"

And then, looking around him: "Is Natsume still sleeping?"

As it seemed obvious that Natsume wasn't there and was certainly still in the boys' room, Sanji went to look for him.

The Straw Hats were stunned.

"What's happening to him?" Usopp was wondering.

"Usually, Sanji likes to flirt with Nami and Robin" Chopper stated naively, as usual.

"Tch! Seems like our Love Cook has taken interest on young boys!" Zoro grinned.

"Have a problem with it, Zoro?" Franky asked "Even if he were gay, we are..SUPERRR crew ! and Sanji's our... SUPERRR bro!"

"Don't push it too far, ero-coke aholic! Not like I care about his sexuality or his tastes whatsoever anyway..."

"Such eternal rivalry!" Franky began to cry while playing guitar "SUPERRR tragic! SUPERRR moving!"

"It's his lack of talent that's tragic" Nami whispered to Robin who answered to her with a smile.

"Brooke, maybe you could give some music lessons to Franky?"

"Yohohoho!" the musician skeleton was feeling excited right now. "You reckon my talent, young lady! Maybe I still have for you to show me you pan.."

Before he could have finished his sentence, Nami had punched him in his bone head with her clima tact.

"Watch your words, Brooke you pervert skeleton!"

"Such violence from a young lady, makes me feel nervous!" Brooke answered. "Oh I don't have any nerve left, I'm dead! Yohohohoho, skull joke!"

Luffy was observing his crew talking about this matter but didn't say a word, as he was eating fish.

The scene looked amusing to me because he knew all of his crew men better than anyone and it was obvious for him that Sanji wasn't gay.

At the same moment, Sanji was in the boys' room and, as he saw Natsume sleeping in one of the beds, he didn't know how to wake him up. In fact, he wasn't sure he had the right to do it. Natsume's face looked like the one of an angel as he was sleeping.

Sanji decided to sit on a chair next to Natsume's bed but suddenly felt like approaching his face from Natsume's face, to see his face more clearly.

As his face was already close to Natsume's face, the young boy opened his eyes...


End file.
